[ELECTIONS] Feedback, news & commentary thread

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

Thanks for the kind thought; I'd want the same consideration if my finger slipped on the button.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

@Sir Lüc

Luc, I tried to message privately but the message was blocked. About two hours ago, I received an automated confirmation of vote message from the Database. But I have not actually voted yet so am trying to find out what happened. Luc could you please look into this? I will forward the email to the Talossa Chancery gmail.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

@Sir Lüc

Luc, I tried to message privately but the message was blocked. About two hours ago, I received an automated confirmation of vote message from the Database. But I have not actually voted yet so am trying to find out what happened. Luc could you please look into this? I will forward the email to the Talossa Chancery gmail.

I'll tell you what happened - because Lüc is probably asleep.

In your mailer, you included a link to a ballot paper. But you included the link with your personal identification number attached.

So, it seems that someone clicked that link to vote, and their was just registered as your own vote. This was extremely foolish on your part, given that valid links to vote were already included in Chancery mails.

You have Dien Tresplet to thank for alerting me to this (so I could alert Lüc to it).

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Whoa!  That's really unfortunate.  Breneir, you should not have sent out your personal link.  I don't even know what the law is about this, and if the Chancery can even undo this.  Let me look into it.

EDIT: "Lexh.B.4. All votes cast are be presumed to be valid. The validity of any vote may be challenged by any Talossan citizen after it is counted, by presenting the challenge as a case to the Uppermost Cort[120], with all available evidence. Should the Cort choose to hear the case, and subsequently find that a ballot has been cast or counted illegally, the final vote tally shall be adjusted to disregard the invalid vote. Special attention shall be paid to non-citizens who might attempt to forge ballots in order to interfere with or embarrass Talossa's democratic electoral process."

You can appeal to the Cort to have your vote disregarded.

The Government will also look into if a crime has been committed.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Yeah, that was clearly an accident on my part to include that personal link. I just copied the guide from the Chancery email as it seemed it would be helpful for others without noticing that it was personalized. As one can imagine I would not be voting present or abstaining from all of the referendums. Although I am interested in who accidentally voted using the link when it probably showed my name for the ballot.

Anyway @Sir Lüc as the Secretary of State I seek your guidance concerning how, if possible, to rectify this issue. If the only option available is to fix it after the count then how does my actual vote get reflected within the democratic process?

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

The Government will also look into if a crime has been committed.

I think my husband can confirm I was actually taking a mid-day nap when the email vote confirmation came in, if necessary. I am skeptical this was an accident as (maybe the SoS can confirm) my name would be visible on the ballot when the other person was voting. I will cooperate with whatever measures the Government proposes to hold whoever did this to account.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

The law seems really clear.  You have to wait, and then appeal to the Cort.  They can set aside your vote, although I don't think you get to vote then?  I don't know, though, since this has never happened before.  If a vote wasn't counted or was cast by someone ineligible, the Electoral Commission could invalidate it.  But the law's only provision for someone asking for a redo is the Cort, I think.

You should retain a lawyer, I'd suggest.

I won't comment further on any criminal investigation at this time.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

I won't comment further on any criminal investigation at this time.

There is no need for further comment beyond the stated commitment by the current Government to look into whether a crime has been committed. I reiterate my willingness to cooperate.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Luc, I reviewed your election rules and along with the Organic Law cited by Alexandreu it seems he is correct that the election rules and the law are pretty clear and there is no way to fix this. So please disregard my own requests to look into it beyond what the Government decides to investigate. It is conceivable that the Independent Progressive party might be only supported by its founder, however, so I am saddened that a mistake and either errant or fraudulent voting might prevent me from returning to parliament.

[Sir Lüc]

I just woke up and I'm looking into the matter.

I am skeptical this was an accident as (maybe the SoS can confirm) my name would be visible on the ballot when the other person was voting.

Unfortunately the electronic form on the Database does not state whose ballot you're trying to cast anymore. I believe this happened prior to the last election in late 2025, when the old ballot page got mistakenly nuked and I had to restore it from the "preview ballot" page, which was mostly identical except for that bit at the top (obviously the preview ballot is not personalised).

[Sir Lüc]

I believe Lexh.B.13.6.1 applies here, meaning I am treating the above as a notification to me and the rest of the Electoral Commission that a potential irregularity with a ballot has taken place.

I have accordingly referred the matter to the rest of the Commission, which shall now review the matter and decide by majority vote whether an irregularity exists. Such an irregularity would then be handled according to existing law.

I will not comment on this further except to update on the Commission's findings.

[Sir Lüc]

Azul à toct,

a majority of the Electoral Commission has voted to invalidate the ballot cast in S:r Tzaracomprada's name. Additionally, upon review of the metadata, the Commission believes that, since the ballot was evidently not cast by S:r Tzaracomprada, he has yet to cast a ballot and is still legally eligible to do so.

Therefore, as directed by the Commission, I have removed the invalid ballot, removed the old voter entry for S:r Tzaracomprada to invalidate the old PSC, and issued a new PSC for S:r Tzaracomprada, which I will communicate to him shortly.

The Chancery will also naturally assist the Government's investigation into the matter.



-- the SoS, on behalf of the Electoral Commission

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

I believe Lexh.B.13.6.1 applies here, meaning I am treating the above as a notification to me and the rest of the Electoral Commission that a potential irregularity with a ballot has taken place.

I have accordingly referred the matter to the rest of the Commission, which shall now review the matter and decide by majority vote whether an irregularity exists. Such an irregularity would then be handled according to existing law.

I will not comment on this further except to update on the Commission's findings.

Luc, I am deeply grateful. Thank you!